Taiwanese pick up nine more medals

POLES APART:Taiwan’s baseball team routed Mongolia 30-0 to maintain their perfect record, but the women’s soccer team fell to a second heavy loss

By Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AFP, BEIJING

Powered by four homers, Taiwan teed off against Mongolia from the get-go with a three-run first inning and a nine-run second, highlighted by Lin Wang-wei’s inside-the-park home run to stake a commanding 12-0 lead.

Following a four-run third, the Taiwanese offense would erupt for another big inning, this time with an eight-run fourth, en route to a landslide victory.

Starring on the mound for Taiwan was starter Wang Tsung-hao, who retired all nine of the batters he faced over three perfect frames, before handing the game over to fellow reliever Luo Guo-hua in the fourth to combine for a perfect-game performance.

Already short of players with only 12 listed on their roster, Mongolia were forced to end the game before completing the fifth inning when their second pitcher was injured by a comebacker from a Taiwanese hitter, leaving no one to replace him.

The 30-0 score was pronounced by the game official as the final score due to Mongolia’s inability to replace their injured player.

“I hope we can continue our current success at the plate and finish off the tournament strong,” Taiwan manager Lu Ming-tsu said.

Taiwan take on the hosts today with the opening pitch scheduled for 9am. Kuo Jung-lin is expected to take the mound in a game that Taiwan are favorites to win.